Page 14 of The Love Fix (The Sunrise Cove #8)

Five-plus hours later, Lexi’s ears bleeding from Ashley’s road trip playlist, she looked out the window as Heath pulled up

to the address written on envelope number two. They were in a rural area, surrounded by ranches and farms. While the ranch

house in front of them wasn’t big, it was well taken care of. The same couldn’t be said of the acreage around it. The overgrown

wild grass danced in the warm wind as far as the eye could see.

Heath turned off the engine. “Go get ’em.”

Lexi eyed the name on the envelope, then turned to Ashley. “Do you know this Judy Tyler?”

“I do.”

Lexi waited for her to say more, but she didn’t, clearly wanting Lexi to ask. Fine. “Are we up against another Margo?”

“Doubt it,” Ashley said. “Judy was Mom’s best friend. She moved out of Sunrise Cove to way out here a few years ago when her

brother died and left her his rescue cat colony.”

Lexi blinked. “Cat colony.”

“She’s got hundreds, and people keep dropping off more. Mom brought her more than a few strays herself.” Ashley got out of the car.

Lexi followed suit, then realized Heath hadn’t moved, so she leaned in the window. “You’re not coming?”

“No.”

“Let me rephrase,” she said. “You’re coming.”

And when he opened his mouth to refuse, she pointed at him. “If I fail at another envelope delivery because I can’t find the

right words to make someone take Daisy’s money while you and that silver tongue of yours are sitting out here doing nothing,

I’m going to be ticked off.”

“Aren’t you always ticked off?”

She narrowed her eyes, but before she could say anything, he got out of the car, all annoyingly, effortlessly sexy, laid-back

attitude, like hey, nothing to see here.

She rolled her eyes and headed after Ashley.

Heath had figured he’d stay in the car on his laptop, working on the plans for Cole’s kitchen remodel, but instead, he found

himself standing at the front door of Daisy’s best friend.

He blamed it on how Lexi had looked at him today, which didn’t line up with the annoyed tone that came out of her mouth whenever

she deigned to speak to him. And that hadn’t even been the thing that made him get out of the car. It’d been his inability

to ignore the nerves in her honeyed gaze—he’d caved like a cheap suitcase.

Judy was in her sixties, dressed in a flowy gauzy skirt and a T-shirt that said fluff you, you fluffing fluff fluff .

She had a cat tucked under each arm. Another was wrapped around her neck like a scarf.

“Hello?” she said when she first opened the door, then caught sight of Ashley and smiled.

“Oh, hey there, honey.” She winked at Heath.

“And hey to you too, handsome. So great to see you both—” She took in Lexi, and after an initial start of surprise, she beamed.

“And you! Oh, Lexi, I have always wanted to meet you! I’ve heard so much about you from your mom. ”

Lexi winced. “It’s probably all true.”

Judy laughed. “If even half of it’s true, you and me are destined to be great friends. What are you all doing way out here?”

“We’ve got something for you,” Ashley said. “From Mom.”

“Aw, really? Well, come in, come in! Unfortunately, I don’t have much time to sit, lots of stuff going on here today.” She

gestured them in past several dozen cats lounging in various poses on the furniture and cat stands and in windowsills...

They all sat. Lexi and Ashley on a couch, Heath on a chair facing them over a coffee table covered in cat hair, with Judy

on a massive beanbag chair. Immediately all of them had at least one cat on them. Heath’s was jet-black with bright blue eyes.

The big guy turned in three tight circles and plopped down onto his lap. One heartbeat later, purring rumbled.

“That’s Pablo,” Judy told him. “He was actually a Daisy rescue. You know how she was, sometimes she’d vanish for a few days,

which meant she was out there driving three states over, all to save a litter of unwanted kittens. She got Pablo and his siblings

from somewhere in Nevada. I was able to get his brothers and sisters all adopted, but couldn’t part with him.”

Ashley was frowning. “I used to assume she was off gambling when she disappeared like that.”

Judy nodded in understanding. “There were lots of times where that was definitely true. Especially in the beginning, all those

years ago when you and your daddy first came into her life. But after she fell in love with him— and you—she worked hard to change. There were some setbacks, of course, and it nearly did her in when he died in that terrible car accident. I’m so sorry for your loss, honey.”

“Thank you,” Ashley said quietly. “I miss them both terribly.”

Heath watched Lexi take this in, staring at her sister with empathy. No doubt she knew exactly what Ashley felt, belonging

to no one, although the difference was that Ashley had grown up with parents who’d made her feel important, safe, and loved.

Had Lexi ever had that?

Ashley held out the envelope to Judy.

“Are you sure this is for me?” Judy asked. “It’s been a year since—”

“She wanted it that way. We don’t know why.”

“Probably to make sure we were still thinking about her,” Judy said on a grief-filled smile. “She did love attention.”

Ashley let out a small laugh. “So true.”

Judy was staring down at her letter. “Should I read it out loud?”

“Your call,” Lexi said kindly.

Judy smiled, a little wobbly, clearly moved that Daisy had thought of her at all, and began to read out loud.

Dear Judy,

You know what you mean to me, but I’m not sure you know what you’ve actually done for me.

By rescuing so many animals’ lives, you inspired me to rescue my own.

You taught me that everyone is worth saving, no matter how down and out.

And we both know exactly how rock-bottom down and out I’ve been.

But now it’s my turn to do something for you.

And, honey, it’s about your social life.

It needs a rescue. You always refused to take a single penny for all the animals I dropped off with you, so I’m sending you a little something.

Enclosed is a nonrefundable, nonexchangeable gift certificate to that nudist colony we visited in Boca Raton all those years ago, the one where you had a fling with the owner, Leaf.

I checked, he’s still there. So go and take your shot.

Also included is a check that should cover a month of house-sitting for the fur babies. Fluff you, baby! Never stop being you!

Forever yours,

Daisy

The room was speechless.

Finally, Judy swiped at her damp eyes and sighed. “God, I miss that woman.” She stood up. “Thank you. I so appreciate you

driving all the way here to give this to me. It means everything. To honor Daisy, I’ll try to figure out a way to take the

trip, but for now, for right now, I’ve got three mamas in labor. Three! And no one to help me today, so—”

“We could help,” Ashley said.

Heath nearly groaned. Ash would offer one of her own limbs if she thought someone could use it.

Judy was looking stunned. “Really?”

“Of course,” Ashley said. “Anything.”

Lexi barely squelched a grimace, and Heath had to bite back a laugh.

“You’ve really gotta teach your facial expressions how to use their inside voices,” Ashley whispered to Lexi.

Judy, missing all of that, just beamed and said, “This way, kids.”

And before any of them could second-guess things, Judy had put Lexi in one room with a mama kitty in labor and Ashley in another. “And you,” she said to Heath. “You’re with me.”

She led him outside. She had a barn and a bunch of animal pens, each with a shelter. She stopped in front of a massive cow

under one of the shelters in the shade. “This is Caraid. It’s Gaelic for ‘friend.’”

“Mooooooooooooooooooooooo.”

He stared at Caraid. “I can’t help but notice that she doesn’t look—or sound—like a cat.”

Judy grinned. “Perceptive. And funny too. I bet women flock to you. You’ve really got that adorable nerd thing going.”

He winced at the “adorable nerd” part, but didn’t take his eyes off the cow, who looked to be pregnant with quadruplets. A

Highland cow if her fluffiness—and adorable face—was anything to go by.

Judy opened the gate and nudged him in. Before he could say another word, she’d shut the gate behind him.

“I don’t exactly have experience with this,” he warned.

Judy waved off his concern. “I’ve got a vet coming to check on her. All you’ve got to do is pet her and talk to her. She’s

done this before. It’s just that she thinks she’s one of the cats, one of my cats, and doesn’t understand she’s a bit big to be a house pet. She requires a lot of love and attention, and when she doesn’t

get it, she—”

“Mooooooooooooooooooooooo.”

“Does that,” Judy said on a laugh. “I’ll be back to check on you two long before any of the real work starts, so don’t worry.”

“Wait.” It’d been a long time since he felt panic licking up his spine. “This is a bad idea—”

But she was gone.

Okay, then. He eyed Caraid.

She eyed him back. “Moooooooooooo.”

Was she in pain? Then he realized how ridiculous that was. She was having a baby; of course she was in pain. Stepping closer,

he eyed her carefully. Judy hadn’t said if she’d ever trampled anyone, but Caraid’s soft brown eyes seemed to beckon him closer.

When he stroked a hand along her back, she pushed at him for more, nearly knocking him on his ass. A rough laugh escaped him.

“Does that help?”

“Mooooooo.”

He could tell when a contraction hit, because her entire belly tightened and she shifted restlessly. He took to rubbing his

hands down her sides with each one, as it seemed to ease her. And then, just as Caraid’s contractions appeared to be nonstop,

leaving her panting and sweaty, Judy reappeared.

“Oh good,” he said with huge relief. “I think she’s getting close.”

“Close and done,” Judy said beaming.

Heath whipped around, and sure enough, Caraid’s calf was fully out. “What do we do?” he whispered, awed.